You can now buy 'Yesterday's Papers - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of The Rolling Stones' in e-book form by clicking here!
As so often happens in these books, we've got a lot of stories going on at once here, so what we've elected to do is tell you about two of them in brief. Ronnie Wood's recorded more solo albums than any other Stones member to date, many of them before he was officially a band member and to be honest if we'd included them all in full on our main text it would be the opposite of 'not seeing the Wood for the trees' - he'd have probably taken over! Bill's work with the Rhythm Kings too is from a whole different bag to the band's sound (although you could argue there are more similarities with what the Stones were when they started than anything the band themselves were doing in the 90s and 00s), so we've included it here, though Bill's earlier poppier works when he was still a member (and which still sound vaguely like rock and roll, if you squint your ears very very much) is in the main part of the book. Just to keep you on your toes more than anything else. Neither career quite fits the general feel of the Stones' main work so think of this section as an aperitif if you want to know more but got fed up of reading Stones solo albums hundreds of pages ago and can't take another (my sympathies - I had to write them!) Before we start, though, it's worth pointing out that if you do want a sneak preview of what the two acts are like then your best bet is with a couple of good compilations that include a good two-thirds of all the stuff you need (better odds than most Stones comps as it happens). 'The Ronnie Wood Anthology: The Essential Crossexion' (2006) is an entertaining little two disc set most useful for the 'bonus' disc including Ronnie's charming early work with The Birds and The Jeff Beck Group as well as, oddly, Ronnie strumming a guitar more or less inaudibly behind some Rod Stewart solo hits and two of the rarest Stones tracks Ronnie played on: 'Black Limousine' and 'Everything Is Turning To Gold'. As for Bill, his two disc set 'A Stone Alone' is another excellent two disc set divided into the cream of his solo work and a good half of the best stuff from the 'Rhythm Kings' sets.
RONNIE
WOOD:
1) I've Got My Own Album To Do (Warner Brothers, September 1974)
I Can Feel The Fire/Far East Man/Mystifies Me/Take A Look At
That Guy/Act Together/Am I Grooving You?//Shirley/Cancel Everything/Sure The
One You Need/If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody/Crotch Music By 1974 The Faces was on hiatus and Ronnie
wasn't yet a full-time Stone. His response was to gather a collection of
friends old and new to make an album that was a rather pointed barb at former
lead singer Rod Stewart, who never seemed to be around when The Faces had an
album ready to roll. Style-wise it's a Faces album that never got made, with
the same bonhomie and joyful wasted-ness of that band. Though Wood lacks both
the vocals of Stewart and the depth of Lane to make it quite as successful as
the early Faces albums at least, this is still a likeable record and probably
Ronnie's best with many of his better songs. Future collaborators Mick 'n' Keef
turn up to help on the album, although perhaps symbolically on separate tracks:
Mick adds some gritty backing vocals to 'I Can Feel The Fire' while Keef plays
guitar on most of the songs, with Mick Taylor also playing guitar on a couple
of songs. Old Faces partners Ian McLagan and Kenney Jones also guest, while
George Harrison co-writes the track 'Far East Man' (which first appeared on
George's 'Dark Horse' album), making this one of the few albums to feature
contributions by both Beatles and Stones. Three
tracks to download: The slow ballad 'Mystifies Me' is the Ronnie Wood
equivalent of 'Wild Horses', a heartfelt yearning ballad. 'Act Together' is a
leftover Mick 'n' Keef song from the 'Only Rock and Roll' sessions, 'swapped'
with Ronnie Wood in order to use the title track on a Stones LP. Ronnie might
have got less sales but he got by far the better song, a smoky ballad that
beats almost everything on the parent Stones album. 'Sure The One You Need' is
a second, more Stonesy collaboration that isn't quite as good but has a nice
Chuck Berry-ish shuffle and some Richards vocals. Adjective: Happy
2) Now Look (Warner Brothers, July 1975)
I Got Lost When I Found You/Big Bayou/Breathe On You/If You
Don't Want My Love/I Can Say She's Alright//Caribbean Boogie/Now Look/Sweet
baby Mine/I Can't Stand The Rain/It's Unholy/I Got A Feeling A second album recorded at around the time
Ronnie joined the Stones features less guests and more Ronnie, which is a good
thing in terms of the guitar playing where Wood has never had so much space to
stretch out and be himself with some excellent licks, but rather bad in terms
of the vocals which sound gruffer and looser without the cushion of the various
harmonies. There's a slower, sadder feel about this album, possibly influenced
by the disintegration of The Faces, a band Ronnie truly loved (by contrast it
sounds as if he got bored of the Stones as early as 'Emotional Rescue'). The
vocals might not have been a problem had they been in healthier sounding
surroundings, but alas the other problem with this album is that it's all so
slick it loses all feel of emotion except for a couple of excellent exceptions.
Worth buying if you liked the first record, though to be honest the debut was
probably enough for me. Three tracks to download:
'Breathe On Me' is a sweet Ronnie Lane style ballad about humility with
lashings of slide guitar which seems pointed to his old band: 'Does it have to
happen like this?' The unusual Bobby Womack/Phil Spector collaboration 'If You
Don't Want My Love (Give It Back)' is one of the more listenable mid-70s funk
songs - better than anything similar on 'Black and Blue' in any case. 'I Can't
Stand The Rain' is the most emotional you'll ever hear from Ronnie, a cover
song about tragedy that's sung with real pathos. To be honest, the rest of the
album could have done with more odf the same. Adjective:
Sad
3) Mahoney's Last Stand (With Ronnie Lane) (Atlantic, September
1976)
Tonight's Number/From The Late To The Early/Chicken Wire/Chicken
Wired/I'll Fly Away/Title One/Just For A Moment/Mona' The Blues/Car Radio/Hay
Tumble/Woody's Thing/Rooster's Funeral/Just For A Moment Back in 1972 and the heyday of The Faces
the band were asked to provide a film soundtrack. Only the band's two Ronnies
accepted, the soundtrack effectively being Lane's last work with a member of
his former band. The cowboy film Mahoney's Last Stand didn't do that well, but
it had a big impact on lane in particular, who took its plot about a man
leaving a hectic (though never specified) lifestyle behind to take up a more
rugged but honest life in the country, something Lane would do for real soon.
Wood is really here to help a friend out, although he does play some lovely
guitar which is amongst his most expressive. Most of the songs are instrumentals
and not very long ones at that, although the two Ronnies sound surprisingly
good together when they do sing in harmony. The album soundtrack was eventually
released a full four years after the film had died a hurried death to
capitalise on both the bigger success of The Faces and Ronnie Wood's new
assignment in The Rolling Stones. Three tracks to
download: 'Chicken Wired' is a very Faces song, a revved up blues that would
have sounded good in the hands of Rod 'The Mod' Stewart. Mind you the two
Ronnies' shared harmonies sound pretty lovely too with lots of down-home
country twang. 'Just For A Moment' is the Faces equivalent of 'No
Expectations', a sleepy slide guitar ballad full of some lovely chord changes. The closing 'Just For A Moment' is a great 'lost'
Ronnie Lane song full of his usual mixture of pathos and hope. Adjective: Rustic
4) Gimme Some Neck! (Columbia, April 1979)
Worry No0 More/Breaking My Heart/Delia/Buried Alive/Come To
Realise/Infekshun/Seven Days/We All Get Old/F U C Her/Lost and Lonely/Don't
Worry By 1979 Ronnie is properly established as a
Rolling Stone. For the most part Ronnie loves it: the fame, the attention and
the music are exactly what he'd been searching for across his time with The
Birds and The Faces. However one thing spells trouble: the perennial
Jagger/Richards refusal to allow other band members credit on songs - even when
the songs are someone else's idea. Frustrated, Ronnie keeps a load of his
latest batch of music to himself for his own album, alongside some specially
chosen cover versions. Though there are less guest stars than the first album
it features many old Stones including his predecessor Mick Taylor - something
Wood may have regretted given how much Taylor trumps him here. Mick Jagger,
Keith Richards and Charlie Watts also guest. Oddly, though, this album sounds
less like a Stones rip-off than a precursor for Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings with
a similar big band R and B feel with very little rock about it at all. Most of
the songs come with same mid-paced tempo, in fact (think 'She's So Cold') which
gets a bit irritating by the end. Not as good as the earlier records, though
some brighter points (including the clever title!) put it at least on the level
of 'Emotional Rescue'. This album is still Ronnie's best-seller to date, no
doubt helped by the publicity of his time with the Stones. Three tracks to download: Bob Dylan cover 'Delia' is one
of the few on this album to come with real muscle. 'We All Got Old' has by far
the best lyric on the album, a reflection on time passing and the importance of
love and family - and possibly a barb at his new band for not doing more to
keep him happy? 'F U C Her' (a double pun on 'If you see her' and the 'f' word)
has a nice punkish quality to it too, although it's not exactly 'Some Girls'
quality. Adjective: Horny (both meanings)
5) 1 2 3 4 (Columbia, September 1981)
1234/Fountains Of Love/Outlaws/Redeyes/Wind Howlin'
Through/Priceless/She Was Out There/Down To The Ground/She Never Told Me The sequel came comparatively quickly coinciding
with the period of lethargy that was
outtakes-set-dressed-as-surprisingly-tasty-lamb 'Tatoo You'. There are less
Stones appearances now, with just Charlie taking part from the main line-up,
although many 'surrogate Stones' are here including Nicky Hopkins and Bobby
Keyes. The result is still probably Ronnie's most Stonesy album, heavy on the
Chuck Berry and good time boogie, mixed with more big band jazz/blues. It might
well have been Ronnie's best album were it not for it for the fact that his voice
is completely shot on this one, his usual nasal falsetto getting more and more
raspy with age and a cocktail of booze and drugs, in stark contrast to Keith's
who just gets deeper in this same period for much the same reasons. Sadly that
makes this album the hardest Stones LP to listen to since 'Jammig With Edward'.
If Ronnie ever releases an instrumental mix of it, though, I'll be first in the
queue. By the way, this record also wins the not-that-prestigious 'weirdest
Stones front cover' award, with a shot of a wasted looking Ronnie on a camel in
an Indian wig in front of the 'Hollywood' sign while a lear jet flies past. No,
me neither. It also comes second to 'Rolling Stones no 2' in the 'weirdest
sleeve notes' category with Andy Johns' plea that everyone seeing this message
buy the album because the record label really needs the money. Given the fact
that Ronnie is at last on a big name label (his first as a solo act) this must
surely be a joke, unless the guitarist knew something about Columbia's finances
we didn't?... Three
tracks to download: 'Fountain Of Love' has that very early 80s post-disco,
pre-new wave feel that suits Ronnie's style of writing, if not his voice. In a
parallel universe 'Wind Runnin' Through', which recycles the usual Stones riff
heard since 'Satisfaction' would be a stunning high octane rocker because the
song is certainly there - just not the performance. 'Down To The Ground'
finally features some passion as Ronnie laments life knocking him about again. Adjective: Off-key (again, both meanings)
6) Live At The Ritz (With Bo Diddley) (Victor Records, April 1988)
Road Runner/I'm A Man/Crackin' Up/Hey Bo Diddley!/Plynth (Water
Down The Drain)/Ooh La La/Outlaws/Honkly Tonk Women/Money To Ronnie/Who Do You
Love? Mick seems like a more likely pairing with
one of the early 1960s' greatest R and B practitioners, but Ronnie was
influenced by Ellas McDaniel (Bo's real name) too and clearly knows the man's
songs well. Ronnie is a fine guitarist who works better solo than in the Stones
art of guitar weaving so it's no surprise that the guitarwork is the best thing
about this album as Ronnie turns the clock back some thirty years. Bo Diddley
sounds a little strained, without his usual confidence and sounds particular at
sea during Wood's moments in the middle of the set including a nobly wrong
version of 'Honky Tonk Woman', a Stones track Ronnie didn't even play on (if
the pair are going back to the past then 'Not Fade Away' or 'Little Red
Rooster' would have been a more fitting pair of tracks to cover - or how about
'Down In The Hole', a bluesy song Ronnie did appear on?) As you'd expect from
an album with 'Ritz' in the title (with this set recorded in the grounds of the
New York Hotel) the set is big on sparkles and glamour and sudden flashes of
virtuosity, but somehow there isn't the emotional connection with the pair and
each other or with their audience and too many of these songs drift into
noodling jams. A bit of a waste of two talents, to be honest. Three tracks to download: A fierce 'Bo Diddley!', the one
moment in the set when the pair sound like their younger selves. A pity it
fades on the album though (did they mess up the ending?) There's a respectable
version of The Faces' 'Ooh La La', not often played by Ronnie since leaving the
band and in fact not often played live at all given that The Faces broke up
soon after recording it. Silly and superfluous as it is, Bo's seemingly made up
on the spot tribute 'Money To Ronnie' is, erm, funny with Diddley paying
sarcastic tribute to his partner ('I asked her where's my money and she said
see Ronnie and he just laughed, meanwhile he's driving round in a Cadillac he
bought brand new...') Adjective: Sparkly
7) Slide On This! (Continuum Records, September 1992)
Somebody Else Might/Testify/Ain't Rock and Roll/Jospehine/Knock
Yer Teeth Out/Ragtime Annie/Must Be Love/Fear For Your Future/Show Me/Always
Wanted More/Thinkin'/Like It/Breathe On Me Ronnie's big return was released in the long wait between 'Steel
Wheels' and 'Voodoo Lounge' and you could have forgiven Ronnie for taking his
bandmates' lethargy as a good launching pad for his own socking-it-to-ya! solo
album. Instead this is Ronnie at his most muted, from the near plain black
cover of his face shot in the dark to the largely guilty batch of songs full of
regrets and worries. Of course, this being a Ronnie Wood album, this is the
sort of record that has a party while it's doing it, but it's on that teetering
edge of drunk where it's just in the switchover comedown between happy and sad.
It's also Ronnie's most adventurous record, with more R and B and ballads
within the rock and a fierce country hoe-down instrumental on 'Ragtime Annie'
that may well have been in tribute to Ronnie Lane's similar style, the former
Face having passed away from M.S. in 1991. This album's special guests include
Charlie once again and 'honorary' Stone and pianist Chuck Leavell who also
co-writes many of the songs with Ronnie. An improvement of sorts, with Ronnie's
vocals in better shape, though it still doesn't match the 1970s pair of albums.
The best thing about this album may well be the packaging, which in contrast to
the front cover features some bright and cheerful and rather good portraits of
Ronnie's nearest and dearest including some priceless drawings of his fellow
Stones (a glum looking Charlie being best). Three
tracks to download: The Jagger-swagger style 'Josephine' really stands out on
an album usually much quieter than this, while the 'you make me moan, you make
me scream' sounds suspiciously close to what became 'You Got Me Rocking' on
'Voodoo Lounge' two years later. Ronnie, of course, didn't get a credit on that
one. 'Fear For Your Future' uses the old 'Between The Buttons' trick of saying
something while diverting our ear by sounding like something else. A tearful
heartstring-tugging ballad about saying goodbye, it's given the most
contemporary dance makeover on the album. 'Always Wanted More' is a
self-deprecating song about wanting too much and things never being perfect
enough tied up to a love song to wife Jo that's amongst Ronnie's most moving
and mature. 'You been flying too high, you got shot from the sky' sighs Ronnie
before adding what's surely another dig at his band with the line about
'Milking blood from a 'stone'. Adjective: Moody
8) Slide On Live - Plugged In and Standing (Continuum Records,
September 1993)
Testify/Josephine/Pretty Beat Up/Am I Grooving
You?/Flying/Breathe On Me/Silicone Grown/Seven Days/Show Me/Show Me (Groove
Reprise)/I Can Feel The Fire/Slide Instr/Stay With Me Ronnie wittily puts down his old partner
Rod Stewart's best selling album 'Unplugged - and Seated!' with his title
riposte. That's about the best thing to say about this record, sadly, which
seems to exist mainly so Ronnie can use that name. Recorded during the short tour
to promote the 'Slide On This Album', it features lots of tracks from that
albums with a couple of oddities including the obscure Stones song 'Pretty Beat
Up' (almost the only Stones song with a Ronnie co-credit) and some rarer than
usual choices from the Faces catalogue. It's not bad and Ronnie's voice is in
better shape than his last two songs, but none of the arrangements are all that
different to the studio ones and you can't really hear the audience, so you
might as well own the originals. The one new 'song', 'Slide Instrumental', is
about as generic as it sounds (even though it's not strictly an instrumental,
with a brief chorus about wanting to go home), while the song's worst cover
'Show Me' gets pointlessly extended via a reprise/false ending that's as long
as the whole thing. You had to be there for this one, I think. Three tracks to download: It perhaps doesn't say much
that the lacklustre Stones song 'Pretty Beat Up' is the best thing here, but
then Ronnie has altered it the most, turning it into a slow blues jam that may
have been closer to his original concept before Jagger went all 'disco'. 'Am I
Grooving You?' sounds rather good with The Faces' Ian McLagan adding some
soulful keyboard work and some lovely harmonies on the chorus. The closest
thing to a hit played all night is 'Stay With Me' which turns into a nice
singalong with the band on sparking form. Adjective: Live
and Moody
9) Live and Eclectic (Pilot Records, April 2000)
Show Me/Flying/Testify/Pretty Beat Up/Always Wanted More/Breathe
On Me/Silicone Grown/Black Limousine/Little Red Rooster/Stay With
Me/Josephine/I'm Losing You/It's Only Rock 'n' Roll//Flying/Silicone Grown/Stay
With Me/Somebody Else Might/I Can Feel The Fire Recorded on the same tour as 'Slide On Live' but left in the
vaults for another seven years, this is actually a much better set with the
band sharper and Ronnie sounding more involved. It may well be the best of all
his solo releases in fact, with a tightness and power few of his other
recordings manage in such bulk. I'm not sure the 'eclectic' part of the title
quite works - this is the usual mix of rockers, with a few little extras thrown
in like the Stones' bluesy 'Black Limousine' and 'Little Red Rooster' as well
as a re-claiming of 'It's Only Rock 'n' Roll'. The 'live' part sounds about
right though, with this set fair crackling with energy throughout. All editions
came with a 'bonus' disc featuring three songs taken from a different date on
the tour and two others added later to the set lists, though none are amazingly
different or impressive enough to stand out much. Three
tracks to download: The Faces' 'Flying' sounds fabulous, with Ronnie doing some
soul singing as the song builds and builds to an epic climax. 'Breathe On Me'
from 'Slide' sounds particularly good tonight, with a finger-picking guitar a
neat accompaniment to Ronnie's next-morning worries. Somewhere out there Brian
Jones' ghost is grooving to 'Little Red Rooster', one of the most authentic
blues performances by a Stone since he was in the band. Adjective: Live
and Eclectic and Moody
10) Not For Beginners (SPV, November 2001)
Wayside/So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star?/Whaddya
Think?/This Little Heart/Living Here/Hypershine/R U Behaving Yourself?/Be
beautiful/Wake Up You Beauty/Intefere/Real Hard Rocker/Heart Soul and Body/King
Of Kings Ronnie returns
to the format of his first record, with some straight-ahead pub rock and lots
of guest stars, though of a more modern variety (including The Stereophonics'
Kelly Jones, Bob Dylan and Ian McLagan once again). The unusual cover of the
unusual Byrds song 'So You Want To Be A Rock and Roll Star?' rather sets the
tone - is Ronnie laughing at us for buying this stuff? Or laughing at the rock
industry the way only an insider can? The good news is there's a bit more
experimentation going on here than normal - the bad is that the experiments
don't always work, with some really peculiar ideas such as a slowed down cover
of Motown classic 'Leaving Here' (whose best element is the sheer power of the
attack) and 'Real Hard Rocker', which is the bluesiest and one of the slowest
things on the album, Ronnie turning his voice into an earth-shaking low note of
doom. In fact Ronnie sounds suddenly much deeper all round, his voice having
'matured' into a gravelly roar that's not unlike Keith's of recent years. It's
just a shame he doesn't have better material to do things with it, with this
album lacking the depth of his most recent work. Definitely not for beginners,
though it's not the worst Ronnie Wood album either. Three
tracks to download: 'Whaddya Think?' is one of Ronnie's all-time strongest
tracks, a slow folky harmony ballad Ronnie Lane would have loved with Jones'
strident lead going well with Ronnie's now growly harmonies. 'Hypershine' fills
the usual Stones archetypal ballads slot with aplomb. 'Heart Soul and Body'
sounds like a long lost Faces outtake with a slide guitar riff to die for and
some puffing folk harmonica. Adjective: Raucous
11) The First Barbarians (Wooden Records, October 2007)
Intro/Am I Grooving You?/Cancel Everything/Mystifies Me/Take A
Look At The Guy/Act Together/Shirley/Forever/Sure The One You Need/Can't Stand
The Rain/Crotch Music/I Can Feel The Fire Or 'I've Got My Own
Concert To Do'. Taped
back in 1974 as part of the two-concert appearance plugging 'I've Got My Own
Album To Do', this is a fascinating historical package for a band named in
honour of The New Barbarians, the nickname Ronnie gave op his 1979 touring
band. The show included cameo spots for Rod Stewart and Keith Richards, who
steals the show on a delightfully ragged 'Sure The One You Need', with Ronnie
all but drowned out at times. It's not really an essential album with the band
so raw in a Faces kind of way that you wonder whether they wasted anytime on
rehearsal or deciding what the set was before they played and almost every song
feels in danger of turning into a formless jam. It is, however, good to hear
Keith playing back-up to Ronnie for once and to hear Wood right on the
boundaries between being a part of two great bands who both collide here
(Keith's left the stage by the time Rod comes on though, sadly, so we don't a
bigger Stoney Faces supergroup). Worth buying if you loved the first album -
I'd give it a miss if you didn't. A DVD also came with the set, although it's
just as scrappy as the CD, seemingly taped more for personal record than
mainstream release. Three tracks to download:
'Mystifies Me' works well as the first 'slowie' in the set with some more
lovely McLagan organ. 'Act Together' needs to have the band play more together,
but it's exciting in a will-they-get-to-the-end? type way as Ronnie pleads
'let's get our shit together!' Against all odds, the band makes it. Willie
Weeks' funky bass brightens up 'I can't Stand The Rain' no end, with a much
longer opening than what ended up on record. Adjective:
Barbaric and Raucous
12) I Feel Like Playing (Eagle Rock, September 2010)
Why You Gonna Go And Do A Thing Like That For?/Sweetness My
Weakness/Lucky Man/I Gotta See/Thing About You/Catch You/Spoonful/I Don't Think
So/100%/Fancy Pants/Tell Me Something/Forever. CD Bonus Tracks: early session
mixes of 'I Don't Think So' and 'Tell Me Something' Ronnie might feel like playing, but I'm not
sure that I feel like paying. No, sorry, that's not actually true I just wanted
to use the line - this is a sweet and consistent album, up there with 'Slide On
This' as the most moving and deep of Ronnie's career. By 2010 Ronnie's
autobiography has caused so many upheavals in his life (not least his quotes on
his band members, especially poor Mick Taylor and the breakup of his marriage
to Jo Wood) and his drug taking has led to so many binges-rehab cycles that the
world has become a distinctly darker and more serious place. This set could
just as well have been subtitled '...because I sure don't feel like partying
anymore' with Ronnie rather down in the dumps. For the first time since the Bo
Diddley album there are no Stones appearances, although regular backing
singer/Beach Boy Blondie Chaplin stands out on backing vocals and there are cameos by The red Hot Chilli
Peppers, Bobby Womack, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, blues legend Willie Dixon who
was weathered even when the Stones were covering his songs in the 1960s (who'd
have guessed he'd have outlived Brian Jones by so many decades?) and Bill's
bass replacement Darryl Jones. Impressive stuff almost back to the level of the
early years. Three tracks to download: 'I've got up
from the darkest road - but it's so hard to get the devil off your clothes!'
snarls Ronnie on a career best couplet as he laughs at himself for being a
'Lucky Man' and not realising it. An unusual song for the usually
straightforward Woody but a good one. The aggressive 'I Don't Think So' which
puts a jagged guitar riff to good use. Finally, the poppy blues 'Tell Me
Something' which both longs for and is afraid for the 'truth' from a loved one.
Adjective: Dark and Brooding
BILL
WYMAN'S RHYTHM KINGS:
1) Struttin' Our Stuff (BMG, October 1997)
Green River/Walking On My Own/Melody/Stuff (Can't Get
Enough)/Bad To Be Alone/I'm Mad/Down In The Bottom/Motervatin' Momma/Jitterbug
Baby/Goin' Crazy Overnight/Hole In My Soul/Tobacco Road This is, you suspect, the sort of thing the
Rolling Stones would have gone on to make in middle age had Brian stayed the
'star' and Mick and Keef not discovered a talent for writing. Bill had himself
dropped out of music by the mid-1990s, hanging up his instrument for 'two
years' or so after leaving the Stones while the busy bassist got married
(again), wrote one book and the basis of a second, created the 'Sticky Fingers'
rock restaurant and spent lots of time gold-digging. Funnily enough
gold-digging is the right way to treat the Rhythm Kings albums which always
promise more than they deliver given the talent involved: Bill didn't audition
or nag anyone into playing in the first line up, he just went through his phone
book inviting people to get together for some informal sessions. Being a Stone
his phonebook included the likes of Georgie Fame, Albert Lee, Peter Frampton,
Andy Fairweather-Low...virtually a Whose Who of guitarists. Bill had already
started playing with close pal Terry Taylor on drums so the Keith and Charlie
roles were filled easily enough - however finding someone to 'replace' Jagger
was always the band's achilles heel and a problem they never did quite get
round. Instead the band went for 'guest' vocals, some of which work -
especially on this first and possibly best album which features Eric Clapton,
Billy Preston, Procul Harum's Gary Brooker and Ten Years After's Albert Lee -
and some of which don't. The result is a likeable but slightly anonymous set of
groove albums that are more or less interchangeable and despite the billing all
suffer from, ironically enough, a lack of 'Bill'. This debut album wins by a
nose thanks to possessing the most authentically rockabilly sound - the others
defer a little too much to R and B and blues, for my tastes at least. I could
have done without the female chorus who add an oddly glossy layer to what works
best as a set of funky down-home recordings, but this is the most enthusiastic
album we've had from Bill since about 1964. For good reason too for the most
part: this is music as joyful informal fun which must have made a nice change
after a quarter century of being told what to do as a Rolling Stone. The album
also includes Billy Preston revisiting his Stones track 'Melody', although he
must have grimaced to have to still credit Jagger-Richards alone for it on the
back sleeve. Bill also revisits 'Stuff' in better, more 'human' form than his 1992
recording. Three tracks to download: Opener 'Green
River' is one of the better Credence Clearwater Revival songs given a nicely
elaborate arrangement and Bill's 'whispering' vocals against the brassy glare
of the female chorus works best here. 'Bad To Be Alone', as sung by Beverley
Skeete, is an excellent Wyman blues original with real pathos and authenticity.
I'm half surprised Charlie didn't quit the Stones too just to play on this
track so dear to his own tastes. Georgie Fame's comedy take on 'Hole In My
Soul' (best summed up by the punchline 'and what do you know? His shoe fell
off!') is also very funny and very in keeping with the humour of Bill's earlier
parody albums. Adjective: Grooving
2) Anyway The Wind Blows (BMG, February 1999)
Anyway The Wind Blows/Spooky/Walking One and Only/Mojo
Boogie/Too Late/Every Sixty Seconds/Ring My Bell/Days Like This/He's A Real
Gone Guy/Trtue Romance/Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You?/When Hollywood Goes Black
and Tan/Crazy He Calls Me/Struttin' Our Stuff. CD Re-issue Bonus Tracks: Sugar
Babe/Gonna Find Me A New Love Bill's
Stones version of the Ringo All-Starrs continues with a second album much like
the first, only longer and with a slightly tweaked line-up. In this time as
guests are Paul Carrack, Chris Rea and no less than two Mick Taylor making his
first return alongside a bandmate in twenty-four years. Georgie Fame has
graduated to become the band's chief vocalist by now, with Bill even quieter on
this second record. Though much longer are far fewer first-class amongst this
line-up with lots of R and B and blues material which, though heartfelt, come
in danger of sounding like the pastiche Bill albums of earlier years. Perhaps
surprisingly, given that there are now two Stones in the band, there are no
Rolling covers this time around, although Bill does revive 'Every Sixty
Seconds' from his solo catalogue. Three tracks to
download: J J Cale's 'Anyway The Wind Blows' has a nice Dire Straits quality
about it. New Bill 'n' Terry original 'Ring My Bell' is rather good, a nice
retro rock number about a telephone switchboard and wires getting crossed.
Closer 'Gonna Find Me A New Love' with Geoff Grange on vocals and some tasty
harmonica playing with a reasonable Stax-style horn riff propelling the song
along. Adjective: Moving
3) Groovin' (Roadrunner Records, May 2000)
Tell You A Secret/Groovin'/Rough Cut Diamond/Mood Swing/Hole In
The Wall/Can't Get My Rest At Night/I Put A Spell On You/Tomorrow Night/I Want
To Be Evil/Rhythm King/Daydream/Oh! Baby/Streamline Woman/Yesterdays Made almost back to back with the second
album and with almost an identical cast (with Georgie Fame still lead vocalist
and Mick Taylor still lead guitarist), this third album is also identical in
terms of quality with a handful of cooking tracks and a few not so hot moments
in there too. There are no Stones links on this one though and less Taylor
guitar if that helps sway your decision which to get. Three
tracks to download: Beverley Skeete's return on Nina Simone's 'I Put A Spell On
You' is magnificent. At last The Rhythm Kings cover the song that partly gave
them their name: J Russel Robinson's 'Rhythm King' with the band message:
'Strutting down the street with my fellow kings and the world is fine!' 'Streamline
Women' features Bill adapting a Muddy Waters song, which is the first time any
of the Stones have done one of the songs by the man who named them in years. Adjective: A-Reeling
4) Live In Europe (Ripple Records, '2000')
5) Double Bill (Ripple Records, '2001')
Long Walk To DC/Hot Foot Blues/Hit That Jive Jack/Love
Letters/Love's Down The Drain/I Can't Dance/Snap Your Fingers-What A Friend We
Have In Jesus/Get In The Kitchen/Boogie Woogie All Night Long/Do You Or Don't
You?-I Wanna Know/Trust In Me/Turn On Your Lovelight//The Joint Is
Jumping/Brown Skin Girl/Tired and Sleepy/Lonely Blue Boy/Bye Bye Blues/Where's
The Money/Jellyroll Fool/Jealous Girl/My Handyman/Rollin' and Stumblin'/Keep On
Truckin'/Breakin' Up The House Well,
blimey: twenty-four tracks of Rhythm Kings that seem to be here to justify the
rather clever title rather than because this set is full to bursting with big
ideas. Released on the smaller 'Ripple' label again as the fuss about the
Stones began to die down and sales fell a bit low, the guest spots have been
cut down now with Georgie Fame and Beverley Skeete dominating the vocals. There
is however a great guest spot from no less a figure than George Harrison who
helps his fellow 'quiet one' buddy out with some great Mick Taylor-ish slide on
slow blues 'Love Letters' and a few appearances by singer Keely Smith, whose
presence understandably brings out even more of a jazz influence across this
album (seriously, where is Charlie? The Stones weren't doing anything this year!)
The good news is that Bill is back to writing and writing actual pop songs
again, with songs closer to the style of his earlier solo work than on any
previous Rhythm Kings album. Georgie Fame also gets to do a 'greatest hits'
melody as a sort of reward for staying loyal to the band. Three tracks to download: Strangely, despite there being
double the usual number of tracks, it's even harder than usual to find three
tracks because they all sound so similar and are of such similar quality:
lifeless, but not awful. 'Hit That Jive Jack' wins for it's playfulness, 'Trust
In Me' features a nice horn part and closer 'Breakin' Up The House' sounds like
fun, but there's very little in it. Adjective: Like A Rolling Stone
6) On The Road Again (Ripple Records, '2003')
Down In The Bottom/SOS/Too Late/Trust In Me/Jump Jive and
Wail/Days Like This/He's A Real Gone Guy/Kiddio/Midnight Special/Lights
Out/Chantilly Lace. CD Re-Issue Bonus Tracks: Melody/Johnny and Frankie This second 'official' bootleg is actually
one of the best Rhythm Kings albums, perhaps after the first one. As with 'Live
In Europe' it's rather hard to find and not much to look at, but about a third of
the album is included in the Bill retrospective 'Stone Alone'. The band always
tended to sound better live than they ever did on album and are on particularly
strong form on this 2002 tour with a disciplined group playing on many of their
best songs. More than deserves a re-issue although it shares many similarities
with the almost-as-good 'Just For A Thrill' released a year later. Andy
Fairweather Low joined the group for this album, though Georgie Fame and Gary
Brooker both left halfway through the tour to play with their own bands. Billy
Preston, once a key part of the Stones touring band, turns up once more to sing
his Stones signature song 'Melody' on the bonus tracks added to the second
pressings of the album. Three tracks to download: 'SOS'
is a delightful Motown song by Edwin Starr that really suits the Rhythm King's
laidback groove and everyone sounds like they get something to do from the horn
players to the backing singers. 'Midnight Special' is Georgie Fame's great
leaving present, a rollicking country-rock-blues that's slower than most
versions but has a lovely informal charm. Louis Prima, he of 'I Wanna Be Like
You' from the Jungle Book, supplies the oh so Rhythm Kings 'Jump Jive and Wail',
with a skiffle band practicing in their back gardens before meeting up to make
one heck of a racket on stage! Adjective: A-Wop-Bop-A-Loo-Bop-A-Wop-Bam-Bill
7) Just For A Thrill (Ripple Records, '2004')
Disappearing Nightly/Roll 'Em Pete/Down Home Girl/Mississippi
Flyer/That's How Heartaches Are Made/Booty Ooty/Cadillac Woman/This Ain't
United Nations/Memphis Woman/Taxman/Just For A Thrill/Crybaby/You Don't Know A
compilation made up of the best recordings from the 1998-2001 tour that weren't
out yet, 'Just For A Thrill' is surprisingly good for an album made up of odds
and ends. With the line-ups of the band coming and going there's not much
consistency of sound, but these albums are best heard in small doses anyway and
include some excellent moments, such as Mark Knopfler fitting right at home
with the band's style (so similar to his own 'Notting Hillbillies' from a
decade earlier). The song selection is a bit more adventurous than normal, with
more recent classics like The Beatles' Taxman and Eddie Floyd's soulful 'You
Don't Know' amongst the track listing, although in truth everything is given
the same Rhythm Kings sheen so that nothing really stands out for good or bad.
Worth buying if you liked one of the others but not really what you might call
essential. Three
tracks to download: The Stones covered 'Down Home Girl' for their second album
almost forty years earlier. It was always one of their best covers, well suited
to Mick's sarcastic vocals and while this more 'straight' version isn't quite
as impressive it's still a strong version. 'That's How Heartaches Are Made' is
Bill Haley's song, beating 'Rock Around The Clock' by hours, even if Beverley
Skeete is not necessarily the right person to be singing it. 'Town Living' is a
pretty new Bill Wyman song about wanting to go back to the country that suits
his deeper husky tones and the huge volume of talented slide guitarists he had
in the band at the time. Adjective: But was it Bill? Or was it a Georgie Fame album with
a Rolling Stones bassist?
8) Live (Dixie Frog, '2005')
I Got A Woman/Jump Jive and Wail/Baby Workout/If I Can't Have
You/Jitterbug Boogie/Bright Lights Big City/Muleskinner Blues/You Never Can
Tell/Taxman/Race With The Devil/I Shall Not Be Moved/Disappearing
Nightly/Flatfoot Sam/I Will Be Satisfied/Let's Talk It Over/Wild One/Roll 'Em
Pete More non-stop rocking, which is effectively
a more modern re-recording of most of the set list released in 'bootleg' form
as 'On The Road Again'. There's more of a crowd atmosphere here but for once
the band sound stiff and unrehearsed alongside what sounds like their biggest
audience yet. There are some good moments still, but for once the crowd seem to
have inhibited rather than enhanced the music. To date, it's the last party for
the Rhythm Kings, though knowing the way the Stones works anything could happen
to the band during the next decade or so... Three
tracks to download: There's an even better 'Jumpin' Jivin' and Wailin' taken at
an even more manic pace. 'You Never Can Tell' is the only time Bill's band
cover a Chuck Berry song, to results that might not match the 1960s but matches
period Stones Chuck Berry-ish numbers at least. Against all odds 'I Shall Not
Be Moved' comes across as authentic heartfelt protest, most at odds with the
usual Rhythm Kings party style. Adjective: Bill!
Bill! You're Sounding ill! Where are mother's helping little ole pills?
That's all for now! We'll be back with more Stones articles than you can throw a stone at next year, after a couple of week's gap catching up with other posts and our AAA review of the year!
'Rolling Stones' (1964) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-100-rolling.html
Rolling Stones: Unreleased Recordings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/another-journey-through-past-darkly.html
A Now Complete List Of Rolling Stones
and Related Articles To Read At Alan’s Album Archives:
'Rolling Stones' (1964) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-100-rolling.html
'No 2' (1965) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/the-rolling-stones-no-2-1965.html
'Out Of Our Heads' (1965) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/the-rolling-stones-out-of-our-heads-1965.html
‘Aftermath’ (1966) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-rolling-stones-aftermath-1966.html
'Between The Buttons' (1967) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-9-rolling-stones-between-buttons.html
'Their Satanic Majesties Request' (1967) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-16-rolling-stones-their-satanic.html
'Beggar's Banquet' (1968) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-26-rolling-stones-beggars.html
‘Aftermath’ (1966) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-rolling-stones-aftermath-1966.html
'Between The Buttons' (1967) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-9-rolling-stones-between-buttons.html
'Their Satanic Majesties Request' (1967) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-16-rolling-stones-their-satanic.html
'Beggar's Banquet' (1968) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-26-rolling-stones-beggars.html
‘Let It Bleed’ (1969) https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/the-rolling-stones-let-it-bleed-1969.html
'Sticky Fingers' (1971) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/rolling-stones-sticky-fingers-1971.html
'Exile On Main Street'(1972) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-rolling.html
'Goat's Head Soup' (1973) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-58-rolling-stones-goats-head.html
'Sticky Fingers' (1971) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/rolling-stones-sticky-fingers-1971.html
'Exile On Main Street'(1972) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-rolling.html
'Goat's Head Soup' (1973) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-58-rolling-stones-goats-head.html
'It's Only Rock 'n' Roll' (1974)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-rolling-stones-its-only-rock-and.html
'Black and Blue' (1976) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/the-rolling-stones-black-and-blue-1976.html
'Some Girls' (1978) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-30-rolling.html
'Some Girls' (1978) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-30-rolling.html
'Emotional Rescue' (1980) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/the-rolling-stones-emotional-rescue-1980.html
‘Tattoo You’ (1981) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-rolling-stones-tattoo-you-1981.html
'Undercover'
(1983)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/rolling-stones-undercover-1983-album.html
'Dirty
Work' (1986) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/the-rolling-stones-dirty-work-1986.html
'Steel Wheels' (1989)http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-113-rolling.html
'Steel Wheels' (1989)http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-113-rolling.html
‘Voodoo
Lounge’ (1994) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/rolling-stones-voodoo-lounge-1994.html
'Bridges
To Babylon' (1998) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/the-rolling-stones-bridges-to-babylon.html
'A
Bigger Bang' (2005) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-rolling-stones-bigger-bang-2005.html
Ronnie
Wood and Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings Solo http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/a-short-aaa-guide-to-ronnie-wood-and.html
Rolling Stones: Unreleased Recordings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/another-journey-through-past-darkly.html
Surviving TV Clips and Music Videos
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-rolling-stones-surviving-tv-clips.html
Non-Album Recordings Part One 1962-1969
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2017/01/rolling-stones-non-album-songs-part-one.html
Non-Album Recordings Part Two 1970-2014
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-rolling-stones-non-album-songs-part.html
Live/Solo/Compilations Part One 1963-1974
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-rolling-stones-livesolocompilationa.html
Live/Solo/Compilations Part Two 1975-1988
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-rolling-stones-livesolocompilation.html
Live/Solo/Compilations Part Three 1989-2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-rolling-stones-livesolocompilation_30.html
Rolling Stones Essay: Standing In The Shadows https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/05/rolling-stones-essay-standing-in-shadows.html
Landmark
Concerts and Key Cover Versions https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-rolling-stones-landmark-concerts.html
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